Kioxia Shares Plunge 15.8% as Flat October-December Guidance Follows Record Quarter

Shares of Japanese flash memory maker Kioxia sank 15.78% to 11,345 yen in Tokyo on Monday, TokenPost reported, after the company guided for almost no growth in revenue and operating profit in the October–December quarter despite posting record results for July–September. The close was the lowest since late April.

The stock had already dropped 7.14% on Friday, October 30, when Kioxia released its first-half results after the Tokyo market closed, making Monday the first full session to digest the numbers. Shares fell as much as 17% during the day, according to FinanceFeeds.

Record quarter, flat outlook

Kioxia said revenue for the July–September quarter rose 40.3% from the previous quarter to 2.48 trillion yen, with operating profit of 1.9947 trillion yen and net profit attributable to owners of 1.3557 trillion yen, TokenPost reported. BigGo Finance said revenue was up 453.2% from a year earlier and beat the company’s own guidance of 2.39 trillion yen, while adjusted operating profit of 1.9883 trillion yen gave an adjusted operating margin of 80.2%.

For October–December, Kioxia forecast revenue of 2.5 trillion yen, up just 0.8% from the prior quarter, operating profit of 1.995 trillion yen, nearly unchanged, and net profit of 1.36 trillion yen. BigGo Finance and Pomegra put the market consensus for quarterly operating profit at around 2.35 trillion yen, leaving the guidance roughly 15% short; FinanceFeeds cited expectations of 2.32 trillion to 2.35 trillion yen.

Currency and shipment timing

Chief Financial Officer Yoshihiko Kawamura said the forecast absorbs a currency hit of about 55 billion yen, as the company assumes the yen at 157 to the US dollar compared with an average of 161 in the previous quarter, according to BigGo Finance and FinanceFeeds. BigGo Finance said each one-yen rise in the currency trims quarterly operating profit by about 14 billion yen.

The company also pointed to shipment timing. Some customers asked for orders to be booked early in the September quarter, while longer production cycles for enterprise storage products pushed some orders into January–March, the reports said. Bit shipments are expected to be roughly flat in October–December. BigGo Finance said the increase in average NAND selling prices slowed to the mid-20% range in July–September from about 70% in April–June, with only a slight rise expected this quarter.

The sell-off dragged on the broader market. The Nikkei 225 closed down 208.25 points, or 0.33%, at 63,081.86, ad-hoc-news reported, while Tokyo Electron rose 5.16% after reporting stronger results and announcing a share buyback of up to 150 billion yen.

What’s next

Kioxia expects a global NAND supply shortage to last through 2027 and said multiyear contracts already cover more than half of its 2028 bit shipments, TokenPost reported. BigGo Finance said shipments are expected to expand markedly in January–March 2027, and that the company declared its first interim dividend since listing, at 30 yen per share.

Japanese markets are closed on Tuesday, November 3, for Culture Day and reopen on Wednesday, with more than 500 listed companies due to report results this week, according to ad-hoc-news.

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